Police in Port St. Lucie are trying to identify a man who they said groped a 9-year-old girl shopping at Walmart with her grandmother.

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The incident occurred June 2 at the Walmart on Southwest Gatlin Boulevard.

Port St. Lucie police said the man approached the girl from behind and twice grabbed her buttocks while she was in an aisle with her grandmother and several other family members. The man left the store before employees and family members could find him.

"The girl noted that this gentleman grabbed her buttocks," police spokesman Tom Nichols said. "She didn't think anything of it, thought it might have been an accident, but the same guy kept on walking back and forth and then, just minutes later, he grabbed her again and left the store."

Police on Thursday released a surveillance photograph of the man believed to be responsible. Police said he had a tattoo on his right forearm and was seen wearing a black T-shirt with the words "It's All Good" on the back. He is believed to have driven away in a white van.

A similar incident recently occurred to a 6-year-old girl at a Publix in Port St. Lucie.

"Some unknown person grabbed her from behind, so it pretty much mirrors the same thing that happened at Walmart almost two weeks ago," Nichols said.

Surveillance video shows a man lurking in the baby aisle, surreptitiously taking photographs of the children with his cellphone and then grabbing the girl's buttocks.

"Police are confident that this is the same person," Nichols said.

Anyone who recognizes the man is asked to call police at 772-879-3343.